Contents

History

Bethesda is situated along a major thoroughfare that was originally the route of an ancient
Native American trail. Henry Fleet (1602–1661), an English fur trader, was the first European to travel to the area, which he reached by sailing up the
Potomac River. After staying for several years (1623–27) with the
Piscataway tribe—variously as a guest or prisoner—he returned to England, spoke of potential riches in fur and gold, and won funding for another North American expedition.[3]

Most early settlers in Maryland were tenant farmers who paid their rent in tobacco. The extractive nature of
tobacco farming meant that colonists continued to push farther north in search of fertile land, and in 1694
Henry Darnall (1645–1711) surveyed a 710-acre (2.9 km2) area that became the first land grant in present-day Bethesda.[3] Rural tobacco farming was the primary way of life in Bethesda throughout the 1700s; while the establishment of
Washington, D.C., in 1790 deprived Montgomery County of Georgetown, its economic center, the event had little effect on the small farmers throughout Bethesda.[3]

Between 1805 and 1821, the area of present-day Bethesda became a rural way station after development of a
toll road, the
Washington and Rockville Turnpike, which carried tobacco and other products between
Georgetown and
Rockville, and north to
Frederick. A small settlement grew around a store and tollhouse along the turnpike. By 1862, the community was known as "Darcy's Store" after the owner of a local establishment, William E. Darcy. The settlement was renamed in 1871 by the new postmaster, Robert Franck, after the Bethesda Meeting House, a
Presbyterian church built in 1820 on the present site of the Cemetery of the Bethesda Meeting House. The church burned in 1849 and was rebuilt the same year about 100 yards (91 m) south at its present site.[4]

Throughout most of the 19th century, Bethesda never developed beyond a small crossroads village, consisting of a blacksmith shop, a church and school, and a few houses and stores. In 1852, the postmaster general established a post office in Bethesda and appointed Rev. A. R. Smith its first postmaster.[5] It was not until the installation of a streetcar line in 1890 and the beginnings of suburbanization in the early 1900s that Bethesda began to grow in population. Until that time, dependence on proximity to rail lines insulated Bethesda from growth, even as surrounding communities located directly on these lines blossomed. The arrival of the personal automobile ended this dependency, and Bethesda planners grew the community with the newest transportation revolution in mind.[3]

That war, and the expansion of government that it created, further fed the rapid expansion of Bethesda. Both the
National Naval Medical Center (1940–42) and the NIH complex (1948) were built just to the north of the developing downtown. This, in turn, drew further government contractors, medical professionals, and other businesses to the area. In recent years, Bethesda has consolidated as the major urban core and employment center of southwestern Montgomery County.[4] This recent growth has been significantly vigorous following the expansion of Metrorail with a station in Bethesda in 1984. Alan Kay built the Bethesda Metro Center over the Red line metro rail which opened up further commercial and residential development in the immediate vicinity.[7]

In the 2000s, the strict height limits on construction in the District of Columbia led to the development of mid- and high-rise office and residential towers around the Bethesda Metro stop, effectively creating a major urban center.

Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 13.2 square miles (34 km2). 13.1 square miles (34 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) of it (0.38%) is water.

The main commercial corridor that runs through Bethesda is
Maryland Route 355 (known as Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda and as Rockville Pike and Hungerford Drive in more northern communities), which, to the north, connects Bethesda with the communities of
North Bethesda and
Rockville, ending, after several name changes, in
Frederick, Maryland. Toward the South, Rockville Pike becomes Wisconsin Avenue near the
NIH Campus and continues beyond Bethesda through
Chevy Chase,
Friendship Heights and into
Washington, D.C., ending in Georgetown.

The area commonly known as "Downtown Bethesda" is centered at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, Old Georgetown Road and East-West Highway. Other focal points of downtown Bethesda include the Woodmont Triangle, bordered by Old Georgetown Road (Maryland Route 187), Woodmont and Rugby Avenues, and the Bethesda Row, centered at the intersection of Woodmont Avenue and Bethesda Avenue. Much of the dense construction in that area followed the opening of the
Bethesda station on the
Red Line of the
Washington Metro rapid transit system, also located at this intersection and the centerpiece of the Bethesda Metro Center development. The Medical Center Metro stop lies about 0.7 miles north of the Bethesda stop,
Medical Center, which serves the NIH Campus, the
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

There were 23,659 households out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were
married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the CDP, the population was spread out with 21.8% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males.

Bethesda is a very wealthy and well-educated area. According to the 2000 Census, Bethesda was the best-educated city in the United States of America with a population of 50,000 or more. 79% of residents 25 or older have bachelor's degrees and 49% have graduate or professional degrees. According to a 2007 estimate,[10] the median income for a household in the CDP was $117,723, and the median income for a family was $168,385. Males had a median income of $84,797 versus $57,569 for females. The
per capita income for the CDP was $58,479. About 1.7% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over. Many commute to
Washington, D.C. for work. The average price of a four bedroom, two bath home in Bethesda in 2010 was $806,817 (which ranks it as the twentieth most expensive community in America).[11]

Bethesda is often associated with its neighboring communities,
Potomac,
Chevy Chase,
Great Falls,
Virginia, and
McLean, Virginia, for their similar demographics. In April 2009, Forbes ranked Bethesda second on its list of "America's Most Livable Cities".[12] In October 2009, based on education, income, health, and fitness, Total Beauty ranked Bethesda first on its list of the U.S.'s "Top 10 Hottest-Guy Cities."[13] In 2009, Self magazine ranked Bethesda as the second healthiest place for women in the country, a year after ranking it number one.[14] As of 2009, eight
Pulitzer Prize winners live in Bethesda, as do several well-known political commentators (including
George Will,
David Brooks, and
Thomas Friedman).[15] In 2014, it placed first on both Forbes' list of America's most educated small towns[16] and
Time's list of top earning towns.[17]

Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT) has developed much of the west side of downtown Bethesda into an area called Bethesda Row. The vibrant district includes an
Apple Store, an
Amazon Books location,[18] a cinema, and dozens of shops and restaurants. Also located in downtown Bethesda is one of the Madonna of the Trail monuments, erected by the National Old Trails Association working in concert with the
Daughters of the American Revolution. President
Harry S Truman, presided over the dedication of the Bethesda monument, on April 19, 1929. Nearby is the Bethesda Post Office. Also starting in the heart of downtown Bethesda, is the
Capital Crescent Trail which follows the old tracks of the
B&O Railroad stretching from
Georgetown, Washington, D.C., to
Silver Spring, MD. Walter Reed Medical Center and the Bethesda Theater are two important Art Deco architectural structures in the suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C.

Bethesda is also home to a federally funded and operated health science university, the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). The primary mission of USU is to prepare graduates for service in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service. The university consists of the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, a medical school, and the Graduate School of Nursing, a nursing school.

Bethesda is claimed to be "Where the diners are famed for / Waitresses so rude" in the
Joan of Arc song "To've Had Two Of".

Bethesda is mentioned in
Space Ghost Coast to Coast of episode 81 "Knifin' Around" by Space Ghost himself. "Well, love is about compromises, Zorak. Compromising your future to the city council of Bethesda, Maryland" (as an unincorporated town, Bethesda actually has no city council).